Improvement in steam-engines



N,PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. 3 C.

` `MT1-31o STATES PATENT OFFICE.

NATHAN N. BARLOV, OF HOMER, NEI/V YORK.

MPROVEMENT IN STEAM-ENGINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 41,@20, dated October 2l, 1846.

exact description ofthe principle or character which distinguishes them from all other things before known, and of the manner of making, constructing, and using the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan of the engine; Fig. 2, a front elevation, and Fig. 3 a vertical section, ofthe same.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

In the steam-engine as now constructed the piston must be accurately tted to the cylinder and packed. The cylinder is then provided with a head or cover accurately fitted and bolted and provided with a stuffing-box around the piston-rod, and then the end of the pistonrod where it receives the connecting rod is either provided with a sliding head working on ways or with a parallel motion, which are not only very expensive, but either of these methods occupy much room, for there must be between the upper end of the cylinder and the beam -or other connection sufficient room for the length of piston and connectingrods,which in many instances is a source of great inconvenieneeas, for instance, in steamboats. Many of these objections I avoid, and render the engine cheaper and less liable to derangement by making the piston along hollow cylinder, the outer diameter of which tits either accurately or loosely the inside of the steamcylin'der, the upper end of which is provided with a stuffing-box, which surrounds the hollow cylindrical piston that is therefore made of greater length than the steam-cylinder within which it works, thus avoiding the necessity of a packed piston. The inner end of this piston-cylinder is closed to form the piston-head, and to the inner surface of it is attached the connecting-rod which extends to the crank. By this arrangement the unequal wear of the piston and cylinder by the vibrations of the connecting rod is avoided. The steam of course in this arrangement can act only in one direction, and therefore will be only single-acting; but when it is desired to makea doubleacting engine then two such single-acting engines are so arranged as to be connected together by a crank-shaft havingtwo cranks on opposite sides of the axis, so that the moment one ceases to act the other commences, the valves alternately opening and closing the induction and eduction valves.

In the accompanying drawings, arepresents the frame of the engine, and b b the two cylinders closed at bottom and open at top, and to the inside of these are fitted two other cylin ders, c c, also closed at bottom and open at top, which take the place of the piston in the common engine. The outside of these cylinderpistons c c is accurately turned, and the inside of the steam-cylinders b b may or may not be bored out to fit the pistons accurately, and their upper end is provided with stuffing-boxes and packing d d, in any desired manner, to fit the cylinder-pistons accurately and prevent the escape of steam. To the inside of the closed end of these cylinder-pistons are attached, by means of properjoints,the connecting-rods e e, that take hold of the two cranks f f on the crank-shaft g, the cranks being placed each on opposite sides of the shaft, so that when one of the pistons is down the other shall be up to' act alternately. The steam-pipe 7L from a boiler or generator branches off to communicate with thev two steam-chests it', provided with steam and exhaust slide-valves k k, eon

,nected with a lever, Z, the upper end of which is alternately moved in opposite directions by two cams, m lm, on the crank-shaft.

Instead of slide other kinds of valves may be employed, as this makes no part of my invention, and they may be cut-off or full valves.

It will be obvious that this engine may be single-acting by having but one cylinder, and its appendages double-acting, as above described; and threefold-acting by having three cylinders with thecranks making an angle ofone hundred and twenty degreeswith each other, so as to divide the circle'into three equalparts, the th reefold-aeting being the best for working the steam expansively by means of cutl off valves, as the steam will at all times be acting with its i'ull force on one and expansively in another.

By constructing an engine on this plan but one packing will be required for each cylinder, and that a stufng-box, which admits of adjustment much more readily than a piston, which can only be repacked'by taking the engine apart. It dispenses with the necessity of a sliding head or parallel motion, the cylindrical piston performing that office by having the connecting-rod jointed to it within and at the bottom, at the same time saving the room occupied by the piston-rod in the common engine; and, what is of greatiinportance, the piston can always be kept oiled by simply oiling the stuffing-box, which is not the case in engines as heretofore made.

For the purpose of preventing the cylinderpiston from being cooled by the surrounding atmosphere when out of the steam-cylinder, the open end may be covered with a cap having a slot cut in it of sufficient capacity to ad- Init of the free Working of the connecting-rod, or the cavity of the piston may be illed with warm Water for the same purpose.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Makng the piston of steam-engines cylin. drical and of sufficient length to Work through a stuiiing-box around it at the open end of the steamcylinder, substantially in the manner and for the purpose specified, in combination with the jointing ofthe connecting-rod to the bottom thereof for the purpose of saving the room occupied by the piston-rod, the piston being guided by the stuling-box at the end of the cylinder and preventing the upper edge of the piston from cutting the cylinder, as would be the case with ashorter piston, as described.

NATHAN N. BARLOV.

Witnesses:

ALEX. PORTER BROWNE, RICH. H. Holzes. 

